Nightmares and Emotional Tethers
by sofaritsalright
Summary: (BEING REWRITTEN) After weeks of endless nightmares, Lydia finally leaves her own home and goes to Stiles for comfort. What he doesn't know is that this would be the night that would change their friendship forever.
1. Unexpected Visitor

**A/N:** If you read from the description, then you know that this story is currently in the process of being rewritten. I know that people have messaged me on here and ao3 wondering when the next chapter would be up, but truth be told, I haven't had much inspiration to continue the story lately and I am extremely sorry about it. The other night I sat down and started rewriting it. So far, I have the first two chapters written and hopefully I'll be able to have the third up by the time the new episode premieres on Tuesday! Thank you all for sticking with me through this time, I hope you guys enjoy this new version (I think it's much better than the old one, honestly, but that's just me.) If you're wondering what the "old/original" version is, you can find it over at ao3 (/user/sofaritsalright). Please follow, favorite, and review if you like it - those are very much appreciated and keeps me one happy writer! Again, I am sorry for all of this and hope you understand. Now, here's the rewritten story of the banshee and her freckled boy.

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" _I'll be brave when you are frightened_  
 _You'll be strong when I am weak in the knees_  
 _I'll be calm when you have had enough of these rushing waves_  
 _You'll be the oxygen I need_

 _You'll be balance when I waver_  
 _I'll be warmth when you are shivering cold_  
 _You'll be patience when I've had enough of this waiting gaem_  
 _I'll be the anchor cast below._ "  
\- "Tethered" by Sleeping at Last

It was past three in the morning as Stiles flipped over in his bed, covering his ears with his pillow. All he could hear was an incandescent tapping noise. Whatever it was wasn't welcome; whether it was his imagination or otherwise, it was driving him insane. After minutes of non-stop tapping, Stiles shot up in bed and let out an annoyed groan. He barely got any sleep these days - not since sophomore year when Scott was bitten. Back then he could handle it, but now it felt like decades of wears and tears in his mind. "Sleep is for the weak" is always what he used to say as he stayed up all night studying his suspect board and drinking coffee that didn't suit well with his ADHD meds. Two years ago it wasn't a big deal to him, but now, in this very moment, all he wanted to do was sleep.

Instead of doing so, Stiles stood up, rubbing his whisky colored eyes and grabbing the baseball bat that leaned against the wall next to his bed. He didn't have any freaky powers that were going to save him like the rest of his pack so he had to improvise on self defense techniques. As he headed towards the window, he crossed his fingers that it was only a tree branch sticking out and scratching the side of the house, but instead he found something much worse. Instead of something simple, a crying strawberry blonde crouched on the roof. Stiles wasn't sure what was more confusing: why Lydia was at his house or how she scaled the side of the house in the first place. No matter the answer, he was quick to throw the bat down and open the window.

"Lydia?" he asks, squinting his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "What are you doing here? It's three in the morning."

Lydia sniffles, throwing him a weak smile as she looks past his shoulder and gazes at his bed. "Can I stay here tonight?"

Before she had fully finished her sentence, Stiles placed his hands on Lydia's forearms and helped pull her inside. To this day, he would do anything in the world for the red headed banshee without a doubt in his mind. Whenever she called, whatever she needed, no matter the time, he was going to be there and rush to her side. Since they became friends, it was clear that Stiles would drop everything instantly for her, even if he was in love with another girl. Lydia was still too dear to him to ever turn away.

As she got inside, the girl teetered on her feet, almost falling backwards and onto the ground. The boy was quick to reach out and steady her as an obvious look of concern grew on his face. "Lydia, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

Lydia shrugged as he lead her to his bed. "I don't remember." Her voice is low and laced with confusion. Whatever was going on obviously wasn't good. "I came to in the woods. I don't know how I even got out there." When Stiles looked to her, it was obvious that she was frightened of whatever happened. "Maybe it was just a bad dream."

Stiles pursed his lips together as he furrowed his brow. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it wasn't. Knowing Beacon Hills and their strange pasts, it most likely was something more than a dream. Whatever it was definitely shook the girl to her core and looking over at her, Stiles felt a sense that he needed to protect her at all cost. Nobody was going to harm one perfect strawberry blonde hair on her head. "Let's just get you into bed, alright? We'll figure this out in the morning."

Lydia nodded with a yawn as Stiles pulled back the covers for her and grabbed his favorite pillow from the bed, throwing it down on the floor for himself. He helped her lie down and gently pulled the covers up, still looking over her with a protective eye. "What are you doing?" she asked, eyeing the pillow on the floor.

At first, Stiles thought his stare was too intense, making the girl uncomfortable and thought that he had to play it off cool, but then he saw where she was looking. "I'm giving you the bed. You need more sleep than I do."

"Don't be stupid. Come up here with me." Lydia bites down on her plump lips, an eyebrow shooting up at the boy. He looked rather surprised by her words, but happily obliged and crawled in next to her. He didn't know what was going on with the girl, but if she was even thinking of sharing the bed with him, it must've been something serious.

His heart was racing as he climbed in next to her and immediately stiffened as he looked up to the ceiling. As he laid there, he knew he was going to be perfectly still all night; there was no chance that he was going to wake her up from his commotion and kicking that he did whenever he was alone. But just as those thoughts entered his head, he felt her arm snake around his waist as she pulled herself closer. Stiles looked down, seeing the frightened look on her face and was quick to pull his arm around her, cuddling her close. "You're safe here," he reminded her, "just go to sleep. You're safe, okay? I promise." His eyes were filled with sympathy and sadness as he looked back down and the silence that filled them was a silent agreement that no matter what, Stiles would do anything to protect the banshee. She might've been a lot stronger than his human self, but still, he would try.


	2. Torn to Shreds

For six nights straight Lydia was showing up at his window around the same time every night. After a few nights, he grew to expect the girl to show up with a mascara stained face and was already waiting with the window wide open for her to crawl through. He had mentioned her behavior to Scott, but the alpha didn't seem too concerned about it all. Scott thought it was nightmares right off the bat. He struggled with the thought all day, consulting the pack along with Deaton, but no one could come up with a viable answer. The only one left truly concerned was Stiles. Maybe Scott was right and there was nothing to worry about.

However, that line of thinking vanished on the twelfth night.

When Lydia showed up, Stiles pulled her inside and they went through their normal routine. He didn't question her anymore. There was a comfortable silence as they crawled into bed, an unspoken connection that begged both of them not to talk. Tonight Lydia's tears didn't seem to stop, making the boy eventually throw his arm over her waist and pulling her close, trying to soothe her. The nightmares must've been getting worse, but he'd never know because she refused to talk about them. Every morning when she'd slip out of his room unnoticed and showed up at school, it was as if she was an entirely different person. She was always back to herself, looking around with a glimmer in her eyes and a makeup filled face that fooled everyone into thinking that she was entirely well rested and okay when she was everything but.

As Stiles drew her closer, shushing the whimpers that escaped from her throat, he noticed something wet. At first, his sleep deprived mind thought she could've been caught in the rain, but then the realization hit him that Beacon Hills hadn't had rain in months from the California drought. As he lifted his arm up slowly, his skin stuck to the substance, making an alarm go off in his brain. "Lydia," he says slowly, "are you bleeding?" The girl stops her crying as he gently pulls her up off the bed and lets out a sharp breath. How didn't neither of them noticed until now? He rushed her to the bathroom as quickly as possible and flipped on the lights. As his eyes adjusted, he saw what was truly going on beneath Lydia's clothes. There were large tears in the girls blue dress revealing scratch marks on her body. Some of the blood had dried, but some of the marks were still bleeding profusely. "What the hell happened to you?" He asks, frantically grabbing a towel from the closet and leading her to sit down on the counter. The girl didn't reply. She didn't have a single answer for him. "We need to get you out of that dress and bandage those, okay? Can you do that for me?" Lydia nodded, not caring what Stiles saw at this point. She was too tired to care and her eyelids were growing heavier by the minute. When Stiles ran back to his room, Lydia slipped out of her dress and eyed herself in the mirror. What she saw were jagged gashes going across her stomach, leading onto her back and a few on her thighs. Did she do this on accident in the woods or was there something else behind it? The thought slipped away from her mind as she grew too lightheaded to stand and leaned up against the counter, waiting for Stiles to return.

Once he got back to the bathroom with spare clothes, his heart began to race. Lydia was almost passed out on the ground, her face completely pale as her eyes were refusing to shut. He looked down at the wounds, finally seeing that they were horribly deep as blood dripped from her hips and onto the floor. "Oh my God," he remarked, dropping the clothes to the ground, "we need to get you to the hospital right now. C'mon." Stiles threw her arm over his shoulder as he lead her out the door. Becoming aware that she was half undressed, he wrapped her in a blanket as soon as they made it down the stairs. "Stay with me, Lydia. We'll be there soon." Stiles wasn't so sure he believed his own words as he grabbed his keys and headed towards the door. Her body was becoming limp, falling against his with all of her weight. "Lydia, stay awake. We need to get you into the car. Can you do that for me?" Lydias eyes fluttered open momentarily, making note that she was still somewhat with him.

Once they were on the empty roads, speeding towards the hospital, Stiles called Scott. Every few seconds, his eyes would flicker over at Lydia, making sure that she was still breathing. "Scott? You need to get to the hospital right now." There wasn't time for a decent hello or an explanation as to why he needed to rush there in such a hurry, but Scott listened and quickly ran to be by his friends side.

By the time Scott arrived, the Jeep was pulling up to the emergency room door. "Stiles, what the hell is happening?" He asked as soon as he hopped out of the Jeep and ran to the passenger door.

"Lydia."

One simple name got Scott's attention and he ran to check her out, immediately growing concerned and protective as he saw her slumped over in the passengers seat. "Lydia!" Scott yelled, pulling her up and out of the car. He held her tight, sprinting towards the door while she lied limp in his arms. "We need a doctor! Right now!" Scott screamed as soon as they got to the nurses station and Stiles quickly followed suit, looking like he was ready to start screaming or crying due to the situation.

Melissa quickly turned around noticing her sons voice the second it hit her ears. The woman ran, noticing the redhead in his arms and looking at the teenage boys with disappointment and fear. "We need a gurney!" Melissa yelled, making the staff run off and find the correct equipment for the girl. "What happened to her?" Melissa asked, checking her pulse to make sure she was even still with them. If she hadn't done so, she would've thought the resident banshee was dead in her sons arms.

"I don't know," Stiles said, "she came to me like this. I don't know- I don't."

Melissa's face softened as she placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder, nodding at him. "It's alright, we'll figure it out."

Scott cradles the girl tighter as he notices the rest of the nurses rushing towards the group. "Mom, you have to stay with her. I don't think this was an accident."

Melissa knew exactly what he meant by those words and nodded solemnly before helping him place Lydia's body on the gurney and rushing her off into the hospital.

x-x-x

The two boys were completely shaken up, pacing the emergency room lobby as they waited to hear any news about Lydia. Stiles' head was swarming with questions, wondering how he missed the blood the second she climbed through the window and wondering if it was too late. But he couldn't think that way, no matter what. He was not going to lose Lydia; she had been through so much worse already and there was no way she couldn't survive this.

Scott, on the other hand, switched right into alpha mode. He wanted to protect his banshee, to keep her safe from any harm. He knew that she was in good hands, but his stomach was tied in knots as they waited to hear back from Melissa. The second Scott thought of calling his mother, she raced out of the room, heading towards the boys who already had her full attention. "Mom? Is the okay? She's going to be okay, right?" Scott asked frantically.

Melissa nodded, placing a hand on her son's shoulder for comfort as she looked towards Stiles with eyes full of assurance that she was okay. "You're lucky you got her here as soon as you did," she tells the freckled boy honestly as he chewed on his nails. "She's going to be okay. Drugged for a couple of days, sure, but she is going to be just fine. I can assure you that." As both of the teenagers let out a deep sigh of relief, Melissa scrambled to pull something out of her pocket and motioned for both of them to come closer to her. "I did find this dug into her back, though." The woman held up what looked to be a claw, one that was long and hideous, making the boys exchanged confused glances.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles asked, looking over at his best friend with furrowed brows.

"I have no idea." Scott shrugged. Neither of them had seen anything like that before in their lives. But then again, just when they thought they had defeated the bad guys in town, another one always popped up. "I'll call Deaton," Scott nods.

"And I'll check on Lydia." Stiles says as he heads past Melissa who promptly grabs him by the arm and shakes her head. "Or maybe I'll just sit outside her door until she wakes up." With that suggestion, Melissa let go, giving him a quick nod before he headed down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hello, loves! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update this again. I've been busy with life and school, but I'm hoping to update this at least once - if not, twice - a week from here on out! Thank you to all of you that followed and favorited since I posted the last chapter. Please keep doing so as well as reviewing cause that makes me and every other author happy!

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Stiles had spent the last three nights staying up until dawn waiting for Lydia to come back, but she never did. For all he knew, she went to seek comfort from Jackson or Allison instead. Though he was getting sleep deprived, he stayed up waiting for her just one more night. He was starting to hear colors at this point after only getting a few hours of sleep the previous nights, but it was all for Lydia. The only thing he wanted to know was that she was safe - that's all that mattered to the boy, anyway. He wanted to protect her in anyway that he could and the thought of her coming to him when she was upset made him feel special for once in their friendship. Hell, he had been in love with her since the third grade and the fact that she sought comfort in Stiles made him feel incredible.

Just as the boy was dazing off, he heard the branches move and the tap on the window that he'd been waiting for. He immediately flew out of bed and opened it up for her. He was smiling as she came inside, but the smile faded as soon as she moved her strawberry blonde hair out of her face. The girl had obviously been crying and there were obvious scratches running down her entire body. It looked like she had been attacked by something or somebody. Stiles opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Seeing her hurt and confused was the worst and it devastated him more than ever. Instead of speaking, he pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head. The girl silently sobbed into his chest and he walked the two of them backwards to his bed.

After awhile of standing there and stroking the girls back, she lifted her head and wiped the tears off of her face. "I'm sorry," she apologized with a crack in her voice. "I am so sorry for this." She shook her head and took a step backwards as if Stiles was repelled by the sight of her.

"Lydia, come here." He said softly with a face full of concern and sympathy. "Can you tell me what happened?"

The girl shook her head and went to look in the mirror in order to wipe away the excess mascara that was now all over her cheeks and under her eyes. She felt Stiles walk up behind her and she looked at him through the mirror with genuine confusion. "Stiles, I have no idea what happened. One moment I'm in bed, fast asleep. The next I'm bloody and in the middle of the woods." She shrugged and put her hair up in a messy bun.

"That doesn't make sense," Stiles told her while trying to think of all the possible reasons.

The girl scoffed. "We live in Beacon Hills, Stiles. Of course it doesn't make sense, but there has to be an answer."

Stiles shot his eyes over to the board in his room where he would spend hours trying to figure out certain mysteries and going-on's in the town of Beacon Hills. It always drove him crazy. He knew how to make quite a few connections and loved the challenge of figuring it all out, but as he peered back over at Lydia, he knew that he actually had to start all over again. This wasn't just any werewolf scheme; it was a scheme involving Lydia and Stiles had no idea what to make of it. As badly as he wanted to start investigating further into it, he realized that the beautiful redhead was now yawning, but still a bloody mess. He let out a reluctant sigh and held out his hand for her to take. "Let's get you cleaned up," he said as she gripped onto him and headed towards the bathroom door.

With the bright lights in the bathroom, Stiles first could see the fact that Lydia was turning pale and was sweating profusely. For a split second, he realized he had never seen Lydia sweat before, but quickly knocked that thought out of his head. As he looked further, he could see that she had claw marks up and down her arms and legs. He shook his head, seeing that it looked as if the creature was trying to tear her to shreds. "Lydia," he said slowly, "we need to go to the hospital."

Lydia's eyes started to water once more. She didn't think it was that bad, but she hadn't been able to see how bad her wounds are. For the most part, her body had gone into shock. If she would've looked earlier, she probably would've run to the hospital instead of to the Stilinski household, but she didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to see Stiles. The moment she started crying, Stiles leaned down and placed a kiss on her head before scurrying out of the bathroom and back into his room. The boy grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a sweater for Lydia while calling Scott. Luckily, Scott answered, even though he was pissed off at how late it was.

" _What_?" Scott hissed.

Stiles didn't have time to explain, so instead he summed up the situation. "It's Lydia. I'm taking her to the hospital. Meet me there. This is serious, Scott."

" _Okay. I'll be there._ "

With that, the conversation ended and Stiles was back in the bathroom to collect Lydia. He threw the extra clothes in a bag and helped her out to his car. He didn't even think about waking up his father at that point - Lydia was too important. If the sheriff woke up before Stiles could get back then Stiles would definitely get in trouble, but he hoped that the sheriff would understand in the slightest.


	4. Hospital Shock

A/N: Hello again, babes! I just wanted to make it clear that this really has no set timeline in the show - if I had to say, it's probably late sophomore year for them. I know that doesn't make any sense, but I love all the characters and wanted to include them all, so I wasn't going to specify. I should've said this sooner, but I hope that clears it up for you guys! P.S. I will try to update sooner, I've been busy with school and life and haven't had downtime until now. Also, this was written on my phone, so excuse my mistakes and blame it on autocorrect instead, haha! Please favorite, follow, and review! xx

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It took ten minutes to get to the hospital from Stiles' house. Ten minutes of pure silence. Ten minutes of peering over at Lydia making sure she was still awake and breathing. Ten minutes of panic on Stiles' part. It felt as if he couldn't drive fast enough and every few seconds Stiles would mentally curse himself out for waiting so long to take her. It was too dark in his room and he couldn't see her clearly, but Stiles thought that instinct should've set in immediately, but he wasn't thinking too fast on his feet after nights of depriving himself of sleep.

By the time the two pulled into the parking lot in front of the ER doors, Scott and Isaac were already waiting for the pair to arrive. Stiles groaned at the sight of Isaac; it wasn't that he disliked him or anything like that, but he asked for Scott, not other members of the pack. The two teenage boys ran to the passenger side of the car as soon as they saw Lydia through the windshield and as they opened the door to help her out, they both exchanged panicked looks with Stiles as they helped her out of the car and walked her to the door.

Immediately, Melissa was there to help out. She looked shocked, but Scott reminded her once more about all the supernatural creatures in town. There weren't just werewolves and banshees - it went a lot deeper than that. Melissa collected herself and took Lydia into a private room and left the boys to wait outside.

Stiles started pacing back and forth in the hallway outside of her door while Isaac and Scott took a seat on the ground. Scott sighed, "What happened, man?" He looked at Stiles with sympathy and his friend just shrugged at the answer.

"I don't know," he snapped. "I don't know. She keeps showing up at my window crying. This time was different, though. She had never been attacked like this before."

After what felt like forever, Melissa emerged from the girls' room and Stiles was right at her side the second she did. She placed her hand on the boys arm to assure him that Lydia was going to be alright, but Stiles urged her to speak up and tell them what was going on. "I found this," Melissa said as she pulled a small object from her pocket. She handed it over to Scott and he tried to analyze it, but he'd never seen such a thing before.

Scott squinted as he looked at the sharp object and shook his head. "Is this a claw?"

Isaac scratched his head. "If it is, it's definitely not from a wolf."

Scott looked over at his best friend who was fully worried about the girl inside the door behind them. Scott spoke in a soft voice, trying to calm the boy down a bit. "Stiles, I think we should call Deaton." Scott nodded his head and pulled out his phone. "You go see Lydia, and we'll take this to Deaton."

Stiles nodded once and headed down the hallway without a single word. Nothing else mattered right now, not even the fact that his dad was calling to yell at him for up and leaving in the middle of the night. "Dad," Stiles answered his phone and immediately braced himself to be scolded. After about thirty seconds, Stiles cut him off. "Dad, I'm fine. I'm at the hospital with Lydia. She got pretty beat up. We're not sure by what - or who - but I had to leave." He listened as Sheriff Stilinski went off on him for not waking him up, but they both knew that when Stiles had his mind set on Lydia, there was nothing else in the world that mattered. "I don't know if she's alright or not, but I'm at her door, alright? I gotta go." Without a goodbye, Stiles hung up and entered the boring, dim hospital room to spot his friend lying on an uncomfortable bed. "Lyds?" He whispered, not wanting to wake her up if she was asleep.

The girls eyes fluttered open, but it seemed as if her eyelids were too heavy to remain open. Stiles accepted the fact that they might've given get quite a few medications and sat down next to her on a chair and grabbed her hand. There was no way he was leaving her side, even if that meant staying up all night and skipping school tomorrow in order to make sure she was alright.


	5. The Claw

**A/N:** Hello! I would like to first start out by apologizing like crazy for the long break between chapters. I did not abandon any of my stories, it's just that with school, I started getting blocked. It wasn't until tonight that I was able to find inspiration for all of my fics. Also, thank you to all the people that followed, favorited, and reviewed while I was away. It's kind of surprising to see because I wasn't sure anyone would enjoy this story to begin with.

So, as always, please follow, favorite, and review. It keeps me a happy 'lil writer.

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" _I got a fear in my blood._  
 _She was carried up into the clouds, high above._  
 _If you bled, I bleed the same._  
 _If you're scared, I'm on my way._  
 _Did you run away, did you run away?_  
 _I don't need to know._  
 _If you ran away, if you ran away,_  
 _come back home._  
 _Just come home._ "

-"Where's My Love" by SYML

 **x-x-x**

Two days later, Lydia was let out of the hospital. Deaton had called his people about the claw, but they hadn't heard a word from him since. In effort to help her out, the pack decided against telling Lydia about what they found. It was for her own safety, even though she'd go off on them for it later.

Stiles hadn't taken his eyes off of Lydia since the incident. As the days dragged on, he made sure to be by her side as often as he possibly could. If she stayed at her house during the night, he sat in a chair beside her bed to make sure she wouldn't wander off. If she stayed with him, he also made sure that nothing bad would harm a single hair on her head. It was obvious that he had become physically exhausted, but he couldn't help it. The girl he loved since the third grade was viciously attacked on his watch. Or at least that's how he thought of it. If anything else happened to her - if any stupid creature would lay a nasty finger on her - then they'd have to come through him first.

Right before third period, Stiles got an urgent text from Allison. He didn't even read the entire thing before he broke out into a sprint to the parking lot. He wasn't risking anything. Not this time, not ever again.

Once he reached the pack, he hunched over out of breath and tried to ask what was going on, but it came out in a lot of breathiness instead. It took a minute for him to lift his head up, but when he finally did, he saw Lydia lying in the backseat of Allison's car. "What happened?" he asked with pure concern taking over his face. His heart started pounding as soon as he saw her. It was so bad that Scott and Isaac were about to tell him to calm down since that was one of the only things that they could hear.

"She almost passed out during trig," Allison explained. "She got hot and was unable to breathe for a second. Scott had his inhaler and she tried it, but it wasn't working." She was holding Lydia's hand while telling the whole story to Stiles. Her thumb was lightly stroking the back of the redheads hand as she gave her a look of sympathy. Allison was scared for the safety of her best friend, as was everyone else, but if she lost Lydia, she'd have to be locked up in Eichen for all of the crazy things that would pursue.

"Whatever it is, I could be an after effect from the claw," Scott started thinking out loud, but didn't realize what he said until Lydia shot up from her position.

The girl saw her vision go black and her body tingled all over as her head became extremely heavy, but she needed to know what Scott was talking about, even if it meant she passed out afterwards. "Claw?" She asked with wide eyes. "What claw?"

Isaac placed a hand on the alphas shoulder, signaling that he'd take over from there. "The doctors found a claw wedged into you after you were attacked," he explained slowly, wanting to back out of the awkward explanation before he was midway through his sentence. "We don't know what it is yet, but we took it to Deaton immediately. We're still waiting for him to call back."

With that, Lydia nodded her head and slowly laid back down. "Stiles?" She asked with a strained voice.

"Yeah, yeah?" He said, quickly pushing the two boys out of his way and to the car door. "Do you need something?"

"Can you take me home? Allison has a test next period that she can't miss."

The brunette laughed, "I can definitely skip it and make it up tomorrow."

Lydia shook her head, thinking that everyone's education was far more important than her health.

"I'll take you home," he promised her. "Help me move her to the Jeep," he told Scott, whom politely stepped in.

Once she was in the leaned back passenger seat, Scott took Stiles by the shoulder and pulled him towards him. "Keep an eye on her." He raised his eyebrows so Stiles would know that it was serious. "We can't lose her and we can't lose you either. Stay with her, okay?"

Stiles smiled, "I was already planning on it."

 **x-x-x**

As soon as Stiles pulled up to Lydia's house, he carefully dragged her out of the seat and placed her on her unbalanced feet. "Do you have your key?"

Lydia very subtly nodded as she handed him her purse. "My dad always told me not to go through a ladies purse," he told her as he tried to hand it back. "At least not until you're a few blocks away," he laughed. "Just kidding. He's a cop. He could never say that."

Lydia was too much in her own daze to make a sarcastic comment about his poor joke and Stiles saw that and instead took her bag and rummaged through it to find her keys. "Let's get you to bed," he said as soon as he opened the door and waited for her to walk through.

"I don't think I can make it," Lydia said as her eyelids started to close, they were too heavy for the girl to keep open.

Stiles bit down on his bottom lip and scooped her up in his arms and headed upstairs to the girls bedroom. He was able to open her door without causing any damage to the girl and for that, he thought he should've earned a medal. As he was placing her down on her bed, he looked around the room and realized that after a few years, it still gave him the feeling that he got the first time he walked in when he was a sophomore. He had been there a few nights throughout the week, but he never realized that his breath hitched in his throat once he came through the door. Everything in the room was just so Lydia. It screamed Lydia and the scent was intoxicating to Stiles' senses. It was a bit too pink and purple for his liking, but he got over it immediately. It wasn't like he was going to argue with the girl about the color of her walls. It was too Lydia to even think about doing.

"Lay down with me," she demanded him. It wasn't supposed to sound like that, but Lydia was too sleepy for her own good and patted the spot next to her while pulling the blankets over her shoulders.

This wasn't the first time that she wanted him to sleep in the same bed either, but he hadn't done that at her house. It was Lydia Martin's room and everything about it was great, but now she wanted him next to her in her bed that smelt of strawberries and vanilla. Of course he wouldn't pass up the chance and gave in immediately. He wasn't surprised that the pillow he was using smelled exactly like her shampoo. He was surprised, however, when she flipped over and nestled her head against his shoulder and placed a hand on his chest. "Goodnight, Lydia," he said even though it was still morning.

"Goodnight," she smiled and drifted off to sleep right after the word escaped her mouth.

He wanted to move out of bed to do some research, but instead he realized just how tired he was and yawned. Sleeping next to Lydia was one of more comforting things in his life and he wasn't about to ruin either of their naps.


	6. The Sleepover

**A/N:** Hey guys! So, I'm not at all proud of this chapter whatsoever, but I hope you guys enjoy it. I've been pretty sick this week, but I wanted to crank this out so no one had to wait too long this time. Please review, follow, and favorite if you like it so far! xx

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"A _Wendigo_?" Stiles eyes grew wide as he pursed his lips together and threw his hands in the air. "A freakin' Wendigo?"

Scott and Deaton nodded at him in unison.

Stiles put a pause on his anger to raise his brows at the veterinarian. "What exactly is a Wendigo?" He knew he had overreacted deeply for a while there, but hearing that they knew of the creature that harmed Lydia riled him up. He couldn't help it. No matter what happened, Lydia Martin had one of the biggest spots in his heart.

Deaton let out a sigh, looking at the boy with a weary look. "They're half-beasts. They rely on cannibalism to live. It's possible that it put their nails in Lydia to keep her paralyzed while it fed.

Stiles gave him a nod before the anger started to flow through his veins once more. He always realized that he was only human in these situations and it almost killed him, but he just wanted to protect his friends. Protect his pack. Protect the strawberry blonde he'd been in love with since the third grade. "How do we stop it? Or kill it. The latter seems like a more fitting option, don't you think?" He gave a glance at Scott before raising his hand up to his face and chewing on his nails. It was a nervous habit of his, especially because of all of the stress in their lives when it came to the supernatural.

Scott frowned at his friend, hating to tell him bad news. "We're not sure yet. Deaton's working on it."

Stiles swore that he could've passed out from the news, but instead nodded and rolled his eyes. " _Seriously_?" He waved a hand in the air, motioning to Scott, as he looked at Deaton.

"Seriously," Deaton confirmed. "Hopefully my contact will get back to me soon. Until then, we'll have to work on keeping Lydia as safe as possible incase it comes back."

x-x-x

Later that night, the redhead looked at her friends as if they were crazy. Scott, Stiles, and Isaac sighed as they frantically made their makeshift beds on the floor in order to give Lydia the full sized bed for herself. She couldn't believe that she was spending the night at the Stilinski house once again. It wasn't that she minded it, but she wanted to be at home. She felt safe enough to sleep in her own bed - alone – but all of her friends thought she'd be safer with them. She felt as if they knew something that she didn't, but she wouldn't beat it out of them just yet. Not until she felt danger coming on once again. "Do you guys have to do this? I feel like having just one of you around would be enough."

"Stiles couldn't stop you on your own," Isaac commented, not realizing that he was being a tad rude. Of course, straightaway Stiles shot him a death glare before returning back to placing blankets on the ground.

Scott shook his head at his friend before looking over at Lydia. "No, it's because if anything happens, you'll have an Alpha to protect you. We're not letting you get hurt again, Lydia. Please don't argue with us for keeping you safe." After he was finished talking, he looked over at her, giving his puppy eyes that would make anyone weak in less than a second. He knew that she couldn't turn his facial expression away even if she tried hard enough.

"Fine," she said as she sat down on the bed with a huff. "Does Isaac really have to be here, though?"

"Would you rather have Derek here?" Isaac asked with a scowl.

"I retract my previous question."

"Thought so." Isaac raised a brow at her while grinning. There was something about him that irritated Lydia, but she had to admit that he could come in handy every now and then. He _had_ stopped her from getting killed by Alison's arrow once which made him more trustworthy than some with her life.

"Hey," Stiles shot up from his spot on the floor, "since everyone's here, can I please introduce you to Star Wars?"

"No!" They all screamed in unison.

"No need to take up an attitude." Stiles sighed and threw himself back on the ground, forgetting that he wasn't in his bed for once. Since he had gotten his bed ready, he wondered about asking Lydia if he could share the bed with her again. Stiles had really taken to falling asleep with her head on his chest and his hand on the small of her back. Granted, it might've been a bit awkward since the guys were over, but they knew as well as the rest of the world that Stiles adored the girl.

"Maybe we should all get some sleep," Scott suggested as he rolled over to face everyone.

Lydia nodded as she let out a yawn. "I second that. It's not like we get much sleep as is." She slid down in the bed, covering herself with Stiles' blankets and melting into the mattress. She, too, wondered why Stiles wasn't up there next to her, but she brushed that thought out of her mind. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight," Stiles and Scott said back.

"Isaac?" Lydia asked after not hearing his voice. Afterwards, she heard the light snores coming from the corner of the room that he was in. The girl smiled to herself, thankful that Isaac was finally getting the rest that he and the rest of the pack deserved.

x-x-x

Isaac awoke in the dark room, feeling groggy from waking up. His eyes scanned the room to look for the alarm clock on Stiles' bedside table. 3:47 AM. The boy nodded to himself, wondering why he wasn't able to sleep all through the night. He stood up and stretched, needing to head to the bathroom, but that's when he spotted it. Lydia missing from the bed. He searched frantically in the covers for her small frame, but she was nowhere to be found. His eyes darted to the window in the bedroom only to realize that it was left wide open, the cold nights breeze flowing through the air and sending a shiver up his spine. "You guys," Isaac said loud enough, trying to get them to wake up. When they didn't, get got down on his knees and placed his hands on their shoulders. "Wake up! Lydia's gone."

The teenagers instantly shot their eyes open, hoping that he wasn't being serious. When they hadn't made a single noise, Isaac pointed towards the open window and frowned. "We have to go find her," Scott groaned as he leaned on his elbows. "She needs us."

Stiles was fast on his feet and stood up without complaining, even through his sleepiness, and grabbed the keys to his Jeep before heading out the door, leaving the werewolves behind to follow his tracks.

"Where do you think she'd be?" Scott whispered, not wanting to wake the sheriff as they crept through the hallway past his door.

Stiles shrugged on impulse. "She said she wanders off into the woods."

"Not to freak you out, but half of Beacon Hills is woods."

"Shut up, Isaac," Stiles groaned. "Do you even know how to be sensitive?"

"Hey, I'm only trying to help."


End file.
